Security documents are used across a diverse marketplace to deter fraud, counterfeiting and theft. In most cases, the security documents are pre-printed on media. The pre-printed media must be stored in a secure location so that counterfeiters and thieves are not able to obtain the secure media which would allow them to freely print fraudulent documents.
There are printers that can print these secure patterns on demand on standard media. In brief, security printing relates to the practice of manufacturing media substrate with certain security indicia/features to prevent forgery and counterfeiting of items such as passports, checks, and prescription pads. As should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art, security printing can include, for example, the inclusion of watermarks, UV coatings, security fibers, microprinting, holograms, phosphorescent inks, and pantographs (e.g., “void”) etc. in the manufacture of the media substrate. The advantage of these “security printers” is that standard media does not have to be secured from theft as the secure documents can be created on demand. However, the printer must be set up with features/methods that disable printing of these secure patterns if a thief were to steal the printer.
Security printers, being capable of producing a wide variety of official documents, are targets for counterfeiters, desiring the ability to print official documents. Accordingly, there is a need in the art to secure such printers against unauthorized users.